North East Florida Boxer Club

January 5^th 2002

 Sheila Bowman, Rupik Boxers, UK

It was a great honour and wonderful experience to judge Boxers in the US. Florida in January also sounded good and I imagined basking in sunshine while everyone at home froze. Well, the sunshine was disappointing but the warm welcome from the dogs and exhibitors made up for the cold weather! I do thank the committee for this invitation, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute!

My travelling companion for the trip was Sue Newman, who bred my Pack Leader and is now very successfully into Vizlas (traitor!), though still having one Boxer at home too. Sue accompanied me on the mammoth Australia/New Zealand trip a number of years ago, and we had great fun again this time round. Flying into Orlando, we needed to get to Deland (near Daytona Beach) for the show. I was loath to hire a car and drive in the heavy traffic in the Orlando area so we decided on the Greyhound bus. I will not go into details, but let me just say that I do not recommend that mode of transport! It was a little scary and we felt none too safe. I joked with Salli Moore that it was probably the first and last time that the judge had arrived by that particular mode of transport!

As I said, I was really looking forward to getting my hands on the dogs and a good entry, both numerically and in quality, awaited me. A number of Specialty shows are held Saturday evening after the all-breed show, so the venue was still packed with dogs and exhibitors. This is the beginning of a long circuit of shows in Florida. (Obviously the Americans also think that Florida in January sounds good!) The circuit began on the Thursday and was at Deland until the Sunday night when everyone de-camped and headed off to the other side of Florida. The venue was superb and the hospitality excellent.

In general I found the bitches of higher quality than the males and the bitch entry was also bigger so I had more choice too. There were a few with really flat, long feet (and correspondingly weak pasterns), which does so affect soundness.

The biggest problem that I had was with mouths and head type. So often an exhibit would look stunning posed but when I went around the front to examine the head and mouth I would be bitterly disappointed. There were a number with wry mouths and even some that were far too undershot. Please breeders, remember that a wry mouth is actually a deformity. I found some very untypical heads, these being very weak, lacking stop and strength of muzzle. Some of the better heads that had good clean skulls, flat cheeks and good width/padding of muzzle lacked depth of muzzle to balance the whole. Eyes were mostly very good, being almost universally of correct size and shape with wonderful expressions.

Outlines were on the whole stunning with better toplines and tailsets than seen in the UK these days. Correct fronts with excellent shoulder/upper arm angulation was the most difficult thing to find, constructionally, as it is in the UK. Rears were better than here, being wider in thigh and second thigh and much stronger.

Movement was in all cases at least adequate and mostly excellent. I only had two in the whole entry that double tracked and very few that pinned. Profile movement was great with terrific reach and drive and outlines being held on the move. In fact I would say that even the worst movement there was still far better than the majority of movement in our rings these days. In the UK double tracking, pinning and lack of reach and drive is now the norm.

I found quite a variety in size. Some, even puppies, being very big and some lacking somewhat in both size and substance. It will be interesting to see them at maturity. Temperaments were excellent, only one youngster was a little hesitant upon being gone over. They all were, as always in the US, very responsive to their handlers and thoroughly enjoying showing themselves off.

Having said all that, I was very pleased with my winners. I was, as always, looking for a sound, ‘middle of the road’ type of Boxer with no extremes. I wanted a good head on a soundly constructed body and the whole thing able to move well and show typical Boxer temperament and character.

(Click the thumbnail to view larger image.)

Winners Dog and Best Puppy went to the 9-12 puppy, KENASHERS TOP GUN. (Ch Kenashers Top Salesman x Ch Kenashers Colony Lace) Bred by Ken & Sherry Johnson and owned by Lisa Crowder and Ken & Sherry Johnson. Handler was Sherry Johnson. A very smart red/white with an excellent head. He has correct lip placement and lovely balance of muzzle to skull with depth as well as width of muzzle. He has a lovely crested neck, strong topline and great tailset. His movement was very accurate out and back and he kept his lovely outline in profile movement. He has correct bone/substance for his age and excellent feet. I would perhaps have preferred a shade more angulation both front and rear, but having said that, he was at least balanced. He was beautifully handled by his breeder/co-owner, and this win gave him a 4 point major. I understand that he has collected further points and a number of Reserve wins in the weeks since.

Reserve Winners Dog came from the Open Fawn class and was CAPRI’S GRAND ENTRANCE (Ch Woods End Crown Sable x Ch Rummer Runs Capri) Breeder/owner Barbara Bachman.

Winners Bitch and eventually Best of Winners went to the winner of Open Fawn bitch, TADD’S HONKY TONK COWGIRL. (Ch Schmidttad Rhinestone Cowboy x Tadd’s Grecian Chasn Rainbows) Breeders Donna & Thomas Doane. Owners Tracy & Diane Shaffer. This 5 point major gave her her title on the night. She was professionally handled by Kay Palade. I thought her really lovely with an excellent head, superb construction and a great mover. Her headpiece is correctly proportioned with lovely balance of strong muzzle and clean skull. She too had good lip placement and an excellent expression. Another with good bone and excellent feet, she moved extremely well, both out and back and covered the ground well going around. Her neck flows smoothly into her topline and she too has a super tailset.

Reserve Winners Bitch was 2^nd to the winner in open fawn: SYRR RUN’S USUAL FINESSE. (Ch Huffand’s-N-Arriba One Up x Ch Syrr Run’s Line of Design.) Breeders Larry & Beckie Horne. Owners Larry & Beckie Horne & Kay Horne Peters.

The champions class was chock full of quality and I thought I must have died and gone to heaven! I would have been pleased to simply stand and gaze at them for the rest of the evening, but decisions had to be made so I had to get to work. Careful examination and moving them out and back and around the ring, then having them all stand on loose leads ‘freebaiting’ showed that they were all excellent specimens of the breed.

Eventually the decision was made, and right now I am sitting gazing at the computer screen struggling to find something to say about my BOB winner that hasn’t already been said many times over. I think the only words I can come up with that approach the truth is ‘Absolutely Stunning.’ She is of course CH CARRILON’S ELEGANCE OF RUMMER RUN. (Ch Rummer Run’s High Noon x Ch Lone Stars Tangiphoa) Breeders Leigh Justice & Ann B Anderson. Owners Cindy Suarez, Ann Anderson & P Whitney. She was, as always, handled by Ricky Justice.

‘Ellie’ has to be one of the most correct Boxers it has ever been my pleasure to lay hands on. From her superb head right down to her feet there is nothing I would want to change. She combines substance with elegance. Her beautiful, expressive head is held proudly on her crested neck, she holds her excellent topline on the move….and she can certainly move! Her shoulder/upper arm assembly is probably as close to copy book as you can get, with correspondingly good forechest and her strong rear completes and balances the whole picture. Add to this the fact that she is the consummate ‘showgirl’ with a real ‘look at me’ attitude and the whole package is something very special and unique. I said that she was handled by Ricky Justice, but there is a part of me that feels that in actual fact SHE handled him!! Ricky told me during the photo session that she had gone right through from BOB to the Group and then Best in Show already that day at the all-breed show. I watched her take BOB too the following day, so she had a great circuit.

My Best of Opposite Sex gave a great performance and pushed hard for top spot. CH KAMI-KO N’KINIS SIMPLY RAJA (Ch Heartacres Formal Attire x Caratux Alpha Premir of Raja), bred by Mark & Donna Hedrick and Avalon Jackson and owned by Avalon Jackson. He was handled by Jack Brown. This brindle male is very, very correct with a lovely headpiece and sound construction. His movement was accurate and sound both out and back and going around. Like the bitch, he has an excellent front assembly, strong topline and good tailset. Not an immediately eye-catching dog, but the more I looked at him the more I liked him. He is an excellent representative of the breed. I thought he and ‘Ellie’ made a lovely pair as they circled the ring for the final nod.

I expected after judging for BOB & BOS that I would need to go on to judge Best Puppy, choosing between my WD and the bitch winners of the 6-9 and 9-12 month classes. I was surprised to be told that as he had gone WD the dog puppy would be automatically Best Puppy. It seems, checking later, that this information was not correct. There may not have been a change in the ultimate Best Puppy, but it would have been nice to see the winning puppies together in the ring for judging.

There was a short time after the show to sample the delights of Sea World, Disney and the Everglades…all of which was great fun and extremely interesting. Add to this the opportunity to hug an alligator and swim with dolphins and you can see that Florida in January was most certainly a good idea! But it is the beautiful Boxers and their sporting owners that will long stay in my memory.